Goddamn Namimori
by Seito
Summary: There was always something strange about Namimori. No one noticed it until they were knee deep into the mystery. As Reborn would say, "Goddamn Namimori." Part of the "We Weren't Born to Follow" universe
1. Important Notice

Sidestories and Worldbuilding for We Weren't Born to Follow

 **Summary:** There was always something strange about Namimori. No one noticed it until they were knee deep into the mystery. As Reborn would say, "Goddamn Namimori."

 **Important! Read This!**

Welcome to the bits and pieces of the We Weren't Born to Follow side stories. You will find the following, more detailed worldbuilding notes, story parts that were either too spoilery to post at the time of writing or missing scenes and the occasional AUs because this idea consumed my life and I got a couple variants.

Spoilers for We Weren't Born to Follow if you aren't caught up.

Pay attention to the Chapter Title Formatting:

Pre-Story - Anything that happens before Chapter 1 falls under here.

_ Arc - Correspond to where in WWBtF timeline.

_ AU - A variant/what if of the WWBtF universe. An AU of an AU. (A fanfic of a fanfic?!)

Notes - Worldbuilding Notes

* * *

 **Small OC Cheat Sheet**

 _Important:_

Ayame - A young woman whom Tsuna and his friends refer to as Neesan. Not much is known about her, but she has been causing chaos in Namimori long before Reborn arrived.

Sawada Ienari - Tsuna's younger twin. A deep-seated hatred for Tsuna, but otherwise a polite and well mannered individual. Captain of the Karate Club. Decimo Candidate.

 _Spirits:_

Zephyr -The wind spirit that Reborn met in the Spirit World.

Kamikawa - The origami spirit that Reborn exchanged information with.

Engetsu - Silver kitsune that Reborn met in the Spirit World. Knows Ayame.

Meishi - A green falcon that lives in the Sawada Household

 _Ienari's Guardians_

Matsushita Hachirou - Ienari's best friend. Captain of the Judo Club. Lightning Guardian

Akemi Kaori - President of Ienari's fanclub. Black Hair, Purple Eyes. Sun Guardian

Kakusu Hideki - Former student council president, son of politician. Red Rimmed Glasses. Mist Guardian

Koujin Fuun - Ninja assassin. Dark purple hair, crimson eyes. Kunais as weapons. Cloud Guardian

Inmen Hisen - Mochida's cousin. Ienari's crush. Hime-cut black hair and ocean blue eyes. Rain Guardian

(Mochida serves as Ienari's Storm Guardian and is not an OC which is why he normally isn't listed here)

 _Others:_

Hibari Koumei - Kyoya's Father. Interpol Agent.

Hibari Yun - Kyoya's Mother. Deceased. Fon's sister.

* * *

 **Updated as of Chapter 21 of We Weren't Born to Follow**


	2. Before the Bridge Arc: Shamal and Tsuna

**Before the Bridge Arc**

"Sorry Shamal," Tsuna said with a soft smile.

Shamal scowled as he wrapped a bandage around Tsuna's arm, glowering harder at the deep scratches. When had Sawada Tsunayoshi had become an exception to Shamal's No Males rule?

Probably, after the third time Hayato had dragged Tsuna into the nurse office and forced Shamal to treat the small brunet. After the first time Shamal caught even more injuries that Tsuna had and hadn't come to see him about them. After that one day where Tsuna come in soaked to the bone and sprain ankle that he hobbled on before Reborn caught wind and healed Tsuna's ankle himself.

(And wasn't that a doozy? Reborn, _willingly_ , **healing**. If that wasn't a sign, Shamal didn't know what was.)

"Are you going to tell me who hurt you this time?" Shamal asked, already knowing the answer.

"Is there a point?" Tsuna asked quietly. "Nothing can be done about it."

And wasn't the frustrating part? Shamal wasn't one for the legal system, but any reports about bullying on 'Dame-Tsuna' fell to deaf ears. Shamal was an _assassin_. If he really wanted to, he could simply… get rid of the problem. Except he couldn't even do that as currently the number of people who actively went out of their way to hurt Tsunayoshi was over 90% of the school population.

There weren't enough places in Namimori to hide that many bodies.

(Perhaps poison? All Shamal needed was to get Tsuna and his friends to not come to school day -something Reborn would probably help with- and the cafeteria could have… a tragic mixup.)

When did Shamal even begin to care?

"Take better care of yourself," he ordered sharply.

Tsuna just smile at him. "Okay."

Empty promises! Shamal already knew he would be seeing Tsunayoshi sooner than later. He grit his teeth and acknowledged that there was nothing he could. This strange town that hurt this small brunet in every way possible and Tsunayoshi just… accepted it all with a smile.

Goddamn Namimori.

What was with this town?!

* * *

Shamal… was one of the characters I manage to introduce into the storyline… and then forgot about him. To be fair, there are so many characters in KHR and trying to give them all a small slice of spotlight is why my chapters turn out so _long_. This was one of the few scenes I wanted to write with him.


	3. Pre-Story: Nana

Nana felt her composure crack as she watched the hitman, _Reborn_ , take her sons upstairs to talk ' _grades_ ' and ' _study routines_ ' with them. It took everything in her not to scream, not to slam the door the minute Reborn had shown up, to smile and pretend that she had no idea who he was, why he was here.

She thought ignoring the flyer would give them more time.

 _ **She thought they had more time**_.

'Iemitsu,' she thought bitterly. 'He didn't even come in person to explain.'

How much of an airhead did her husband take her for?

The a soft coo as Meishi landed on her shoulder. The green colored falcon preened Nana's hair slightly and gave a soft chirp.

Nana gave Meishi a watery smile and steeled herself. She could do this. But first thing first.

Glancing upstairs to where Reborn and her sons were still sitting in Ienari's room, Nana slipped out the front door with a cellphone in hand. Quickly she dialed a number. There was someone else who needed to know about Reborn's arrival.

"Reborn showed up today."

On the other side of the phone, Ayame swore.

* * *

This was originally how I wanted to start chapter 1 ahaha. I took it out because Reborn noticing the mystery of Namimori was much better.


	4. After Daily Arc Part II: After Dino and

**After Daily Arc Part II: After Dino and Ayame's First Meeting**

The first time Ayame showed up with red roses, Shoichi didn't think much of it. Especially since they spent the afternoon testing whether there was any truth of the infamous 'they love me/they love me not' myth.

(As it turned out, it was not very accurate in determining love interest, but there was minor improvement in overall mood and a boost in confidence regardless of the ending choice. Also, testing it against mundane choices like which box held the candy in it, left or right, showed an increase in being correct.)

The second time Ayame showed up with red roses, they may have played mad scientists and did some… genetic splicing. The results of that were… interesting and they may have found a natural pesticide and a natural plant growth formula.

The third time resulted in the rose cannon.

On the fourth time, Shoichi worked up the courage to ask. "Why are you bringing in red roses if all we're going to do is destroy them?" he asked as he pulled his safety goggles over his glasses.

Ayame laughed. It sounded hollow to Shoichi's ears, so he let the subject drop.

Eventually, Shoichi learned that the roses were from Dino. Apology flowers for all the times the blond haired man crashed into her. Why red roses, Shoichi didn't know. Especially since their relationship wasn't even remotely romantic. (However, Shoichi would admit that Dino was the type to do that regardless.)

To be honest, Shoichi didn't understand why Ayame kept accepting them. It was clear, given the ways they were going about destroying the roses, that she didn't like red roses at all.

They measured the different effects of different types of acids when applied to roses for the seventh time.

The tenth time, Shoichi was in the lobby when Ayame arrived, clothes covered in what looked to be tomato sauce, or at least he hoped it was tomato sauce. Cradled in her arms was yet another dozen red roses.

Ayame, smile frigid cold and golden eyes glittering with spark of irritation, marched up to one of the unsuspecting employees that had just entered the lobby.

"Slaine-san," Ayame greeted the older man.

"Ah, hello Aya-," Slaine started.

Ayame steamrolled him. "I understand it's yours and Inaho's 3rd anniversary."

Shoichi watched with amusement as Slaine blushed a bright red. According to the other employees, Slaine and Inaho's (another employee) relationship were ranked in the top five cutest couple in the entire company.

"I-I, y-yes?" Slaine squeaked, unable to look her in the eye.

Ayame shoved the red roses bouquet into Slaine's arms. "Congratulations! Please give Inaho-san my regards."

It was the start of a new pattern. Shoichi watched as the next twenty bouquets ended up arms of whoever was celebrating something that day. In the rare case that there nothing, the roses ended up somewhere in the office building, anywhere, break rooms, cubicles, conference rooms as long as it was far away from Ayame's office and anywhere she frequented.

It also opened up the question as to why Ayame arrived nearly every other day with red roses and more importantly _who_ was giving her flowers.

"Irie-kun," Asseylum, the one of the many receptionists, begged. "You must know!"

"I do," Shoichi admitted. "But if Neesan doesn't want to talk about it, I'm not going to either."

The other employees were ridiculously nosy. There were already bets in place about Ayame's secret admirer. There were bets for everything.

"What am I not talking about? Ayame asked, popping up from practically nowhere.

Shoichi jumped, startled. He would never get use to the way Ayame came out of nowhere, with no reason. "Neesan! I, um," he fumbled for words as Asseylum ducked her head to pretend to be working. He noticed Ayame's empty hands. "No red roses today?" he deflected.

Ayame scowled. "No. And with any luck, there won't be anymore," she said darkly.

'Ah,' Shoichi thought. 'Dino-san must have gone back to Italy.'

"I will meet you upstairs," Ayame said, heading towards the elevators.

Shoichi nodded.

Asseylum, next to him, pouted. "Does that mean they broke up already?" she asked once Ayame had stepped into the elevator.

"No," Shoichi said, pushing at his glasses. "I'm certain that is not the last time we'll be seeing Neesan with red roses.

Sure enough, a few weeks later when Dino returned from Italy, Shoichi watched as Ayame stormed into the office with another dozen red roses.

The office didn't stop gossiping about it for _weeks_.

* * *

Ayame and Dino's relationship makes me nervous to be honest. I'm surprised how many people actually liked the idea (it started off as a joke I swear).

Please leave a review on your way out. :3


	5. After Daily Life Arc 2: Part 2 (Kindness

**After Daily Life Arc 2: Part 2 (Kindness)**

There was a noise.

Ayame groggily blinked awake. She recognized the Sawada Household's living room, the couch she vaguely recalled sleeping on earlier and the heavy blanket over her shoulders, freshly laundered. A quick glance showed Engetsu still asleep, curled up in the chair next to the couch. Her soft glow lighting the room in silver moonlight. Ayame stretched, feeling out. Mostly everyone was asleep and in their proper rooms (the most important being Tsuna because if he wasn't in bed, Ayame was going to make sure Nana grounded him until his next birthday).

Except for one.

Which might explain the noise.

Ayame peeked into the kitchen and sure enough there was Bianchi attempting to cook. A new poison perhaps? Most likely given the purple smoke rising from the stove. Ayame looked at the clock hanging on the wall: 3:48am. She wasn't sure why Bianchi was cooking now though. Unless she had a hit? But Ayame didn't think so.

Unless it was for Ienari, then she wholeheartedly approved.

"What are you cooking?" Ayame asked, curious.

Bianchi whipped around, ready to fling the pot at Ayame. "Ayame-san," Bianchi said, relaxing. "What are you doing up?"

"It's a bit early to cooking," Ayame said, fighting a yawn. "Especially ones that create toxic gas."

Bianchi gave a frustrated cry, turning off the stove and dumping the pot in the trash. Ayame made a mental note to buy Nana some new pots and prepare a long argument why she had to buy new pots. (Because Nana would tell her not to spend her money so frivolously, but it was Ayame's money so point was moot in her opinion.)

"Not the right poison?" Ayame asked.

"It wasn't supposed to have any poison at all!" Bianchi cried out.

Ah. Ayame's mind instantly made the connection. The reason why Bianchi was cooking now was so she could practice without anyone else seeing her. Especially if she was trying to do without the whole poison cooking aspect. Ayame did recall that everything Bianchi cooked since coming to Namimori had turned poisonous. Originally Ayame had thought it was Bianchi refining her technique, but if she was trying to cook normally…

"So you can't cook normally?" Ayame asked. It was late, she was tired. Best to confirm her hypothesis before making any faulty assumptions.

"No!" Bianchi said. She stared down at her hands. "I just want… I just want to make something that Hayato can eat."

'Siblings,' Ayame thought fondly.

Yawning, Ayame said, "Well you might want to stop leaking your Flames into your cooking then."

Bianchi looked at her, startled. "What?"

"Your Storm Flames," Ayame repeated slowly.

"I don't know how to use my Flames," Bianchi protested.

Ugh. It was too early for this. Stupid mafia and their inability to teach anything properly. "Of course you do," Ayame said. "That's how your Poison Cooking works. You're channeling the disintegration aspect of Storm Flames into your food, which turns normal food into their poisonous toxic counterpart. So, simply tighten up your control and you should be able to cook normally."

"What?" Bianchi repeated.

"Can you summon Storm Flames?" Ayame asked.

"No!"

"Okay, you're doing it in reverse then most people," Ayame said. "Look the first step for most people is the ability to summon the Flames, the aspect of each type, Disintegration of Storm for example, comes after that. Except you're summoning the disintegration aspect without the use of Flames. That's actually quite impressive. It's my understanding that only Skies, Mists and the occasional Cloud are able to call upon their aspects without Flames."

Bianchi just looked at her confused. Ayame had her sit down and grabbed a cup of uncooked rice from a container. She placed a small handful in front of Bianchi. "Show me how you would turn this into Poison Cooking."

"I just cook," Bianchi said, frustrated.

"Try," Ayame said.

Bianchi frowned and cupped her hands around the uncooked rice. Within seconds, the rice turned purple and faint smell of rot tainted the air.

"Remember that feeling," Ayame instructed. She handed Bianchi another small handful. "Try again."

Bianchi did. Except this time, from across her, Ayame flexed her own aura. Her own spirit energy slowed down Bianchi's corrosive disintegration.

Three minutes later, Bianchi stared down at the purple grains of rice. "That… was much harder. What did you do? Things felt cold and then lukewarm."

"In general, Storm Flames are a Yin aspect, so I counteract your Yin with Yang to slow it down. Yin is cold, Yang is hot, so when I slowed you down, things felt lukewarm," Ayame explained tiredly. "That's the most basic way to slow or stop something, by the way. Beside the cold, what else did you feel?"

"Like something sharp and prickly, like it was angry that I was holding onto it and that it just wanted to run wild and freely," Bianchi explained. "It's familiar, like when I cook all the time."

"That would be why it's called Storm Flames," Ayame said. "That type of energy wants to run wildly and freely, without care of where it goes, what it hits, just like a storm. Next time you cook, try to rein that feeling. You should be able to cook normally if you succeed with that."

"But how do I learn to control that?" Bianchi asked.

Ayame yawned. "There are some basic techniques. Meditation is always the default answer by the way, but there's some techniques like the paper cutting. By learning to summon the aspect when you want to, controlling how much you want or how little, it should be easier to separate it from your cooking. You probably woke that ability at a young age and it latched onto first medium it could properly channel itself through."

"And you can teach me those techniques?" Bianchi asked. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Ayame said. Uncontrolled abilities and unknown limits were a hazard and if she could teach someone better control, she was all for it. Bianchi's Poison Cooking wasn't harmful (outside of those Bianchi purposely targeted) but it could be better.

"You can always ask Tsuna if you don't want to rely on me," Ayame said. Bianchi was more likely to trust Tsuna than her at least. "Or Fuuta."

"Fuuta?" Bianchi asked.

"Haven't you noticed? Whenever he does his rankings these days, nothing floats off the ground. He learned how to separate the gravity aspect of his ability from the ranking aspect," Ayame said.

Fuuta had picked it shockingly fast. But given how freely he used his ability and the fact that his parents most likely taught him some things before their deaths gave him a better foundation than Ayame had originally expected. That and Ayame was exceedingly familiar with the gravity aspect of Spirit Energy. She had Engetsu to thank for that.

"I had noticed," Bianchi said. "You taught him that?"

"Yes," Ayame said. "But I'm not teaching you right now. Bed, sleep before Tsuna discovers we're both awake at this hour. I've been good lately! I do not deserve his look of disappointment over my sleeping habits!"

She would teach Bianchi after the sun had risen.

* * *

A little plot point I had discovered too late -ninja-

Visually, the manga/anime always show Flames being used the same time as the 'aspect' (i.e. when healing you see Sun Flames) because otherwise how would you know the character is doing something right? The harmony of Sky Flames (without the Flames) is a popular fandom theory. So I took it a step further and applied it to all the Flames. If they could use the 'aspect' without the need for Flames. (i.e. Yamamoto can just touch someone to calm them down without a hint of Flame in sight). The ability to separate is what led to the idea that Bianchi's poison cooking was the result of the disintegration of her Storm Flames. The same way bread turns moldy and thus 'poisonous' to us.

Please leave a review on your way out!


	6. Notes: Dying Will FlamesSpirit Energy D

**Notes: Dying Will Flames/Spirit Energy Definitions**

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Spirit Energy: (noun) Organic energy produced by one's soul.

Spirit Energy manifest differently for each person. How it manifests, the ability and limitations all varied. Certain genetic components will ensure that it manifest a certain way for certain family lines. For example, once awaken, the ability and type of Dying Will Flames is passed down from parent to child. (i.e. Sawada Family and their Sky Flames). People with multiple Flames types usually have one or more active type in their family tree at one point.

Spirit Energy is measured in Spirit Point (SP).

Spirit Energy is generally labeled as Wuji (limitless/boundless) type. As a whole, Spirit Energy has no type, completely in balance. It serves as the 'Kingdom' scientific classification to all different types of spirit energy manifestations.

 _Examples of Different Spirit Energy Manifestations:_

-Dying Will Flames  
-Magic  
-Exorcist  
-Onmyodo  
-Future Sight/Seers/Dreamseers  
-Fuuta's Ranking Ability

Under normal circumstances, the spirit energy a normal person produces does nothing. In some cases, it may influence your luck, like discovering money on the ground or being able to always find parking. Tiny little gifts that no one really notices.

Life or Death situations can 'awaken' a person's ability to use their spirit energy. (Their abilities usually warp into something that will immediately help them out of said life or death situation). Skilled teachers can also teach someone how to awaken their ability. Spirits can also 'awaken' the gift. Some people are born with the ability with no previous manifestation in their family tree.

Children of 'awaken' parents are, 95 percent of the time, born 'awaken'. (i.e. Fuuta and Ayame)

Dying Will Flames are a common way to awaken, learn, and increase Spirit Energy without being reliant on genetics. This means anyone can learn to use Dying Will Flames. However, the ease of which you awaken your Dying Will Flames can be contributed to genetics. (i.e. a child of an active Flame user will have an easier time than a child of a normal civilian). Certain duties of priest/priestess (or other religious clergy) is another easy way to increase your Spirit Energy abilities.

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 **Dying Will Flames**

Dying Will Flames are the easiest type of Spirit Energy to use. Easiest to awaken, easiest to learn, easiest to master, easiest to strengthen. This is due to the high density nature of Dying Will Flames and their basic design.

Active Flames: (noun) Actively able to used Dying Will Flames

Locked Flames: (noun) An offspring of someone who already has Active Flames. Currently unable to use Flames.

Major Difference between Locked Flame person and normal person: A Locked Flame user is mostly to awaken their Flames at a young age and/or whenever threatened. A normal person would go their entire lives without even knowing what Dying Will Flames are unless, accidentally called upon a near death experience (rare) or woken by an Active Flame user.

Yamamoto, Gokudera and Hibari are all examples of Locked Flame Users. Hana and Haru are examples of Normal People who learned Dying Will Flames.

Dying Will Flames are Yang type of energy. However, the different aspects of each Flame fall under different classification. The Flames with Yang Aspects are more likely to be more powerful while Flames with Yin Aspects are more likely to be more versatile.

 _Examples:_

Yang Aspects: Activation of Sun, Hardening of Lightning, Propagation of Cloud  
Yin Aspects: Disintegration of Storm, Tranquility of Rain, Construction of Mist  
Wuji Aspect: Harmony of Sky

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[see 'we are the poisoned youth' fic]

Magic as a whole is Wuji type of energy. However, the different spells used fall under different classifications of Yin, Yang, and Wuji.

 _Examples:_

Yang Spells: Avada Kedavra  
Yin Spells: Aqua Eructo  
Wuji Spells: Color Change Charm

* * *

I just wanted to compile some of the definitions that I used in the story or summarize a few mechanics that were scattered across the main story.

For Context:  
See Chapter 5 of this story: the conversation of Yang Aspect of Storm Flames between Ayame and Bianchi.  
See Chapter 9 of WWBtF (Higher Level): Dying Will Flames Basic Design conversation between Reborn and Giotto.  
See Chapter 11 of WWBtF (Redefined What I Know): Active Flames/Locked Flames conversation between Ayame and Fon.  
See Chapter 12 of WWBtF for majority of Yin and Yang conversation between Ayame and Reborn.  
See Chapters 7-9 of 'we are the poisoned youth' for Magic/Yin/Yang Conversation.  
See Chapter 13 of WWBtF (Uxie) for Fuuta's family history.


	7. Yousei Arc: Ghostly Report

**Yousei Arc: Ghostly Report**

Sight was more of a curse than a blessing. Ayame forcibly tuned out the songs, screams and pleas, became as blind as she could to the supernatural visions, ignored the bright colors, the threads that looped. She carefully weaved passed the demons, spirits and ghosts. There was no visible reaction to the sweet scent or foul odor.

" _Please! Listen to me!"_

Ayame grit her teeth and kept her eyes looking forward.

" _Please! They took my child! Yousei took my child!"_

Ayame froze. Silently she cursed. Turning she saw at the young woman, a dark red stain blossoming around her stomach. The woman reached out to the people passing by, only for her hand to pass through them.

" _Please,"_ the woman begged. _"If you can hear me, they took my child."_

Ayame closed her eyes, briefly picturing if someone had targeted her kids. Even if it turned out to be nothing but a rumor, even if it was only a one time case… for the sake of her peace of mind, she better investigate this.

She reached out, grabbing the woman and pulling her down a dark alleyway. The woman looked at her surprised that Ayame could physically thought her. Ah the perks of Sight.

"Tell me about Yousei," Ayame said.

Better start digging.

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Since Sight didn't come up until much later in the story (much less confirmation of Ayame's abilities), couldn't originally post this tidbit before. So here's how Ayame found out about Yousei to begin with. It started off with a ghost...

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